Free Breakfast at Dennys
 

Just came home from our local Dennys and got the free Grandslam.
Sure you pay for your coffee and tip but I got the GrandSlam Superbowl special.

Even in the small town of Douglas, Az it was crowded at 6AM.

Anyone else???^

Nope...made an omelet at home. The stories about angry cooks leaving "presents" in the food today made this decision easy.

I tried a Denny's a few months ago and found it so unappealing that I'm not going back even if it is free.

Whaaaa!?!?! :eek: Can you elaborate or post a link, please? Thanks.

Free still isn't worth it to me for Dennys.

I love Dennys for breakfast. Their hashbrowns are food of the gods. Closest one to me is 2 hours away, and I make every effort to stop there if I'm near during breakfast time. There is no other large chain that comes even remotely close, and few independents for that matter IMO. I would have been pissed if I was there today and saw the line....

Hopefully nobody will actually do that, but here is an explanation. Too many people tip a percentage of what they actually paid (and often less the tax) rather than on the actual value of the meal. So if all they actually had to pay for was coffee, they tip for the coffee and nothing else. (Just to use numbers for illustration, they might tip 10% of the 1.29 coffee instead of 10% of the Grand Slam normal price and coffee.) So the servers are working the same amount (actually harder due to the stampeding crowds in this particular campaign) for less money. The less ethical or more bitter servers (and cooks) may try to get revenge on their management by doing un-tasteful things to the customers.

What I can't figure out is what the Denny's executive management hopes to accomplish by this marketing stunt. Anybody know or want to hazard a guess?

Get people talking about them?

QL

I would hope that Denny's would pay the people working today some sort of combat pay because people often don't tip well.

I tip $1 per $5 of pre tax total (because you're not supposed to tip on tax and tax doesn't count towards the server's sales anyway) so for a grandslam and coffee I'd probably only tip $1 anyway.

I'm sure many people will tip hardly anything...maybe just pocket change.

You are posting on a frequent flier bulletin board about their promotion. I'd say they have accomplished what they set out to do with this.

:)

From cnn.com...

"This free offer is our way of reacquainting America with Denny's real breakfast and with the Denny's brand," Chief Executive Nelson Marchioli said in a statement.

Though not sure the next paragraph in the story is so good for the brand:

The Grand Slam breakfast consists of two pancakes, two eggs, two strips of bacon and two sausage links. It weighs in at 44 grams of fat, 56 carbohydrates and 770 calories, according to CNN affiliate KETV in Omaha, Nebraska.

Checkout the discussions on Slickdeals and Fatwallet.

I might’ve given them a try if it was for one of their sandwiches, since I’m not much of a big breakfast eater. Denny’s isn’t as bad as Perkins, at least to me.

I enjoy reading the web forum for servers in the U.S. and they've been talking about this. One guy reported people showing up in pajamas in his area Denny's. Another person who works for a different restaurant NEAR a Denny's reported overhearing her customers: they got the overflow crowd and some people were chatting about how they were going "Denny's Hopping".

Denny's is known for being cheap eats, and there's nothing wrong with that aside from the fact that they often to draw the less classy members of society. A campaign like this only makes that worse. When you advertise something is FREE, be prepared for the vultures to land en masse.

Free Grand Slam Breakfast Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2010 6A-2P
 

Bumpp

Feb 6 is a Saturday; however, you also mention Tuesday, which, would be the 9th...;)

It is Feb 9th. And not to be outdone, IHOP is bringing back free* pancake day in 2010. IHOP brings even greater value added to their proposition by offering a compliementary wake up call from Steve Young, Miss America or Marie Osmond. I'm going to register all my enemies to get the Marie Osmond call. ^

* donation to local children's hospital suggested

none for me thanks, if you really needed the free Denny's breakfast then hope you enjoyed^

--

I stand corrected, it's tomorrow, Feb. 9, 2010; and Denny's has announced you can also have a free Grand Slam Breakfast on your birthday.

OK, as a guy, my daily caloric intake is supposed to be about 2000 calories, right? So as long as I don't follow up my Grand Slam with a Big Mac, large fries, and Coke for lunch and dinner, I should be OK.

More like so long as you don't follow up with food that has sodium or cholesterol because the Grand Slam provides more than 100% of the recommended daily intake for both. ;)

I also wonder what kind of short cuts they'll go to so save money on doing this. You get what you pay for, and I wonder what quality of eggs and bacon you'll get for FREE? :confused:

I like free food as much as the next guy but this will not be free if you value your time at anything > 0. These promotions bring in large crowds and you can expect quite a wait. Personally I'd rather pay $5-6 and eat elsewhere without a wait and a more leasurely rate and atmosphe.
The birthday offer is interesting as there will not be the same crowding problem.

I'm going to not and say I did.

How long were the lines for this year's Dennys Slam Fest?

About 10 minutes, at noon. The line moved very quickly.

Yeah, I'd rather suck it up, go to Cracker Barrel and fork over $9-10 for a quality breakfast. Free or not, Denny's is horribly disgusting, IMO.

Dennys breakfast is great and well priced. It is ok quality and the same you will get and any typical chain restaurant that serves breakfast.

I go to the one by LAX on Century all the time before early morning flights since the food sucks in T7 at LAX.

I like looking at the different types of people who are there. all kinds, business people, backpackers, and night shift workers.

I wont eat at dennys though for lunch or dinner but have been there after a late night on the town :D

Dennys consistently has the best hashbrowns on the planet, and has for 45+ years. That, and the fact that they cook the eggs exactly as I order them 9 out of 10 times is really why I go there.

Was there a limit to the number of free breakfasts per person or was every Dennys simply full of the same people all day ?

Yikes o.O

Bit of an overload compared to my typical yogurt and granola bar or grapefruit.

The last time I ate at a Denny's (not by choice, my brother insisted and dragged me there), the quality was terrible. My friend ordered whole wheat toast and they actually brought it to her covered in mold! The food itself could have been improved by the mold I think - at least it would have gone from bland to having SOME kind of (icky) flavour!

Denny's food sucks. Period.

Breakfast is okay... at best on a very, very good day.
Dinner... forget it. Rather starve for the night.